Presser-foot mechanism for sewing-machines.



F. N. LA CHAPELLE.

PRESSER FOOT MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1910.

1,234,913. Patentd July 31,1917.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFEIoE.

FRED N. LA CHAPELLE, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, OF'PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

Application filed July 23, 1910. Serial No. 573,365.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED N. LA CHAPELLE, citizen of the United States,residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presser-FootMechanism for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apperta-ins tomake and use the same.

The present invention relates to a devlce for lifting the presser-footof a sewing machine.

The present invention as embodied in the mechanism herein described isintended as an improvement 'upon the machine shown and described in thepatent to French &v

Meyer, No. 473,870, April 26, 1892, and has for its object the releaseof the presser-foot upon the reversal of the driving shaft. In

Y practice, the operator, when it is desired to remove the work from thesewing machine, reverses the rotation of the driving shaft until theneedle and awl are pulled from the work, and it is the usual practice toso position the clamping bolt of the pulley wheel upon the driving shaftthat when the shaft is turned in position to free the work of the awland needle that said clamping bolt will be on the top of the shaft, theoperator Watching the position of the bolt to determine When the workmay be removed from the machine. In the Goodyear outsole rapid stitcher,described in the above-mentioned French & Meyer patent, it is usual toemploy the resser-foot releasing device shown and described in thepatent to Holmes, No. 584,039, June 8th,1897, by which when the operatordesires to remove the work he may do so by releasing the presser-foot bymeans of a hand lever. In my improved device it is possible for theoperator to release the presser-foot by hand at any stage of thestitch-forming operation, and I also provide means whereby upon thereverse rotais illustrated in the above-mentioned patent to French andMeyer. It will be understood, however, that my invention is equallyapplicable to other types of sewing machines, and that it can beotherwise embodied withtout departing from the spirit of my invenion.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, taken partly incross section, of the mechanism embodying my invention; Flg. 2 is a sideelevation showing in more detail the presser-foo't arm and its releasinglink, while Fig. 3 shows the releasing link alone.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings 1 indicates a work support againstwhich the work is held by a Presser-foot 2 which is carried by anelbow-shaped lever 3 which is loosely mounted to turn about the stud 4:,which is mounted upon the frame of the machine. Pivotally mounted on thestud 4 is the arm 5 which is yieldingly connected with the elbow-shapedlever 3 by means of the spring 6 and link 7. At the ends of the arms 3and 5 are the ratchet toothed sur faces 8 and 9 respectively. Theratchet teeth 9 are engaged by a pawl 10 borne upon the end of a lever11, said lever being pivoted to the frame at 12 and oscillated by a camroller 13 running in a cam slot formed in the side of the cam wheel 1 1.The upward movement of the lever 11, transmitted to the arm 5 by meansof the pawl 10 and ratchet 9, raises the arm 5, putting the spring 6under compression, and by means of the link 7 and arm 3, forcing thepresser-foot 2 upon the work, the presser-foot being firmly held inposition by means of the ratchet teeth 8 which are engaged by one ormore of the pawls 15, varying preferably in length to thus provide inthe usual manner for finer adjustments, said pawls being pivoted upon astud 16 rigidly secured to the frame. S9

5 as indicated at A and B in my drawings to arm 3 is the bearing stud 19to which is attached the sliding frame 20 used in varyingthe stroke ofthe pull-off, the frame 20 being held upwai dly by a light spring 21.

' sure of the spring 6, but when the 'work'is stationary the spring 6 iscompressed to force the presser foot against the work to clamp it on thework support. With the exception of the arm 17, the purpose of cushionof leather or other soft material 34 to prevent rattling of the link 30as it drops into this recess during the normal rotation of the drivingshaft as indicated by the artion of the driving shaft 27 is reversed,the

ratchet tooth 33 will engage the pawl 32 and force the link 30 downward,the curved finger 31 forming a bearing against the hub 28 and holdingthe upper end of the link 30 in which will be hereinafter explained,the'al" position beneath the shaft 27. The lower rangement and operationof the foregoing parts is substantially that disclosed in theabove-mentioned French and Meyer patent and Holmes patent, and furtherdetailed description is considered unnecessary. It,

will be noted, however, that with my device applied to the Goodyearrapid stitcher shown in the French and Meyer patent, the

lever and cam roller designated at 7 and f respectively in the Frenchand Meyer patent, are placed above the driving shaft allow space for thereleasing link in my device to engage below the driving shaft.

Pivoted about the stud't is a lever 22 bearing the handle 23. Piyoted tothe lower extremity of the lever 22 is a bifurcated link 24, the lower'rearwardly extending arm of this link being forked to engage and beguided by the pin 18 upon the pawl'15 while the upper rearwardlyextending arm of this tor to lift the presser foot without havingto;compress by hand the spring'6 as necessary in the device disclosed inthe Holmes patent.

Keyed upon the driving shaft 27 is the hub 28 of'the cam wheel 14 andextending to the right of the cam wheel viewing the machine from thefront. This hub is longitudinally slotted or recessedat 29, one edge ofthe slot or recess forming the ratchet tooth or edge 33. Loosely lyingagainst the hub 28 is the upper end of a link 30. The upper end of thelink 30 bears a curved finger 31 of the curvature similar to thecircumference of the hub 28. The upper end of the link 30 at a pointnear the branching off of the finger 31 is formed with a pawl tooth 32which is arranged to be engaged by a single ratchet tooth 33 formed onthe hub in making this tooth 33 is padded with a the link 30.

end of the link 30 is bifurcated to form a spring 36 is resisted by astop 36 limiting the upward movement of the link 30, the

, action of the spring 36 and stop 36 exerting a torque to hold theupper end of the link 30 in engagement with the hub'28. Secured to thelink 30 near its lower end is a bearing shoulder 37 which, when the link30 is forced downwardly will engage the upward end of the arm 1% and bya cam action from the ratchet teeth 8.

The upward thrust of the,

force it to the re'ar,releasing the pawl 15 The operation of mydeviceis'as follows r I i a When the driving shaft is reversed the linkstrikes against a pin 25 carried. by'a ratchet tooth 33 engages the pawl32 carrying the link 30 downwardly. The link 30 in its downward movementfirstcompresses the 7 spring 36, then the shoulder 37, striking the arm17 releases the pawl 15 from the ratchet teeth 8 and the stud 19,slipping in the slot 31*, is finally engaged at the upper end of theslot, and the arm 3 forced downwardly against the force of the spring 6,thus lifting the presser-foot 2, the parts assuming the positionshown inFig. 2. It will be noted that the pawl 10 still engages the ratchetteeth 9 so that the spring 6 is compressed by the downward movement ofthe arm 3. The work may now be easily removed from beawl are withdrawnfrom the work by the backward rotation of the driving shaft. By suitablypositioning the notch 29 about the shaft 27, the resser-foot may belifted at that point in the reverse rotation at which the needle and awlare withdrawn from the work. A new piece of work may now be placed uponthe work support beneath the presser-foot and the driving shaft startedin its normal direction of rotation. The upper end of the link 30 is nowcarried upwardly and to the left from the position 7 shown in Fig. 2,thus allowing the presserfoot to again descend upon the work, the

neath the presser foot 2 when the needle and spring 6 forcing thepresser-foot down with the same force that it had before the presserfootwas automatically released by the reverse rotation of the shaft, aresult which it was impossible to obtain when the operator was compelledto replace the force of the spring upon the presser-foot by hand.

Having now described my invention What is claimed is:

1. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a driving shaft, a relatively movable work support andpresser foot, yielding means inoperative during the feeding of the workbut acting at times when the work 1s stationary to force the worksupport and presser foot together to clamp the work between them, andmeans operating in timed relation with the stitch forming and workfeeding devices made operative only upon the reversal of the rotation ofthe driving shaft for separating the work support and presser footagainst the pressure of said yieldlng means, whereby the work may bewithdrawn, substantially as described. 7

2. A sewing machine having, in combination,stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a driving shaft, a relatively movable work support andpresser foot, yielding means 1noperative during the feeding of the workbut acting at times when the work is stationary to force the worksupport and presser foot together to clamp the work between them, meansfor locking the work support and presser foot against the work, andmeans operating in timed relation wlth the stitch forming and workfeeding devices made operative only upon the reversal of the rotation ofthe driving shaft for unlocking said locking means'and for separatingthe work support and presser foot against the pressure of said yieldingmeans, whereby the work may be withdrawn, substantially as described.

3. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and workfeeding means, a driving shaft, a work support, a movable presser foot,aspring acting with a heavy pressure to force the presser foot againstthe work on the work support when the work is stationary, means forrelieving the work of the pressure of the spring when the work is fed,and means operating in timed relation with the stitch forming and workfeeding devices made operative by the reversal of the rotation of thedriving shaft for lifting the presser foot against the force of thespring, whereby the work may be withdrawn, substantially as described.

4. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a work support, a movable presser foot, a weak springacting with a normally light pressure to force the presser foot againstthe work on the work support, means including a strong springinoperative during the feeding of the work but acting at times when theWork is stationary to increase the pressure of the presser foot againstthe work, and means made operative by the reversal of the rotation ofthe driving shaft to lift the presser foot against the pressure of saidsecond spring, whereby the work may be withdrawn, substantially asdescribed.

5. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a driving shaft, a work support, a movable presserfoot, means including a spring inoperative during the feeding of thework but acting at times when the work is stationary to force thepresser foot against the work on the work support, means operatthestitch forming ing in timed relation with and work feeding devices madeoperative only upon the reversal of the rotation of the driving shaftfor lifting the presser foot against the force of the spring whereby thework may be withdrawn, said means upon the resumption of rotation of thedriving shaft in normal direction automatically allowing the spring toagain force the presser foot against the work, substantially asdescribed.

6. A sewing machine having, in combination, stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a driving shaft, a relatively movable work support andpresser foot, a spring, means acting through the spring to clamp thework between the work support and presser foot once during each cycle ofstitch forming operations and acting to release the work when it is fed,and means operating in timed relation to the stitch forming and workfeeding devices inactive during the normal operation of the machine andmade operative only upon the reversal of the rotation of the drivingshaft for separating the work support and presser foot against thepressure of the spring, substantially as described.

7 A sewing machine having, in combina tion, stitch forming and workfeeding devices, a relatively movable work support and presser foot, aspring for holding the presser foot and work support in light engagementwith the work, a second and stronger spring, means acting through thesecond spring to clamp the work between the work support and presserfoot once during each cycle of stitch forming operations and acting torelease the work when it is fed, and means inactive during the normaloperation of the machine and made operative only upon the reversal ofthe rotation of the driving shaft for separating the work support andpresser foot against the pressure of the second spring so that the workmay be removed and having provision for automatically allowing thespring to again clamp the work between the work support and presser footupon the resumption of rotation of the driving shaft in its normaldirection substantially as described.

8. In a sole-sewing machine, the combina- 7 nected from said shaft aftersaid presserfoot is raised, and constructed to leave said resser-foot inraised position. r

9. In a sole-sewing machine, the combination with a drive shaft, a Worksupport, and a movable resser-foot, of a member connected with saidpresser-foot, and operating means on said shaft engaging said memberupon reversal of said shaft, constructed and arranged to raise saidpresser-foot and thereafter become disconnected from said member toleave said resser-foot in raised position. i s V 10. A sewing machinehaving, in combination, a driving shaft, a 'tooth connected with theshaft, a presser foot, a Work s11pport, mechanism including adisconnecting link constructed and arranged to engagethe tooth uponrotation of the driving shaft in 7 reverse direction to raise thepresser' foot and upon continued rotation of the driving shaft inreverse direction to become disconnected from the tooth and leave thepresser' foot in raised position.

'11. A sewing machine having, in combination, a driving shaft, a toothconnected with the shaft, a presser foot, a work support, presser footraising mechanism includmeans for holding the presser foot in raised 7position upon a continued rotation of the drivlng shaft in reversedirection.

FRED N. LA OHAPELLE,

Witnesses:

Cmzsrnn E. Rocnns, LAURA 'M. Gooonroen.

